Terror Gold
by Lirenel
Summary: *Challenge 15: Gold* Before the duel, Lucy explains to Caspian why the High King has acted so bitterly towards him, and why the Telmarines should fear the Golden Fire. Any warnings can be found on my profile.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Terror Gold**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia**  
Note: **After the Prince Caspian movie came out, this plot bunny bit my heel and hasn't let go until I finally wrote this down. It comes from two things: 1, Peter seems to have an unreasonable hatred of Caspian even before they meet and 2, Edmund's line "Telmarines? In Narnia?" indicated that the Telmarines existed even during the Golden Age and that the Four Sovereigns had dealings with them. Another fancy hit me, about how Telmarine children might learn rhymes concerning the Golden Age, even if the stories were lost, since many children's rhymes have some sort of historical background, like "Ring around the Rosy" and the jump-rope song "Lizzie Borden took an axe". Combine all these things together, and you get this story.**  
Note 2: **This is rated T for references to dark themes (meaning violence and blood).

* * *

After the terrible mistake he had made, nearly resurrecting the White Witch, Caspian felt less ready then ever to be one of the leaders of the Narnians. Before, he had just been stewing in anger and blaming the High King for acting so arrogantly. Disappointment and bitterness mixed together as Caspian had sullenly resented being "put in his place" by Peter, who seemed to hate the Telmarine for every breath he took. Then came the White Witch, and Caspian had been enticed by her enchantment, and so had Peter, both kings fallen to temptation. It was not until he had stood up, looking at the angry face of King Edmund that Caspian remembered that Peter was not the only King returned from the Old Days. Edmund had so quietly followed Peter's lead that Caspian had almost forgotten he existed. Until the boy, so many years younger than Caspian, had destroyed the Witch, glaring at them with furious, wise eyes and being ever so much a more noble king than either Peter or Caspian had been acting like thus far.

Perhaps that was why Caspian now watched the younger king during the council of war. Edmund had quickly taken it upon himself to write out the challenge to single combat as Peter dictated, interjecting suggestions as they went. Realization hit Caspian. They had done this before, brother-kings issuing challenges to fierce opponents with ease born of long years. Seeing them as children, Caspian had forgotten that they _weren't_ children, or at least they had not always been so. Once they had been two adult kings in royal finery and majestic crowns, planning battles and duels and ruling Narnia as the Just and the Magnificent. The phrase _two kings, two crowns, silver and gold crowns_ whispered from Caspian's memory, but he just shook his head, ignoring the chanting rhyme as he watched Peter and Edmund work.

"Who will issue the challenge to Miraz, sires?"

All eyes turned to Glenstorm, who had asked the question. Caspian frowned, he had not thought of who would go to the Telmarine camp to deliver the challenge. "I am afraid my uncle will not respect an ambassador who is not…human." Which left them with exactly five people who could go, and Caspian had no idea what the proper choice would be.

Edmund did, apparently. "Well, I'm going of course."

Caspian blinked as the High King's face lost all color. There was fear in those blue eyes, terror that Caspian had never seen in them before, not even going into battle, not even when they were _losing _the battle. "Ed…"

The younger king raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You would send Susan or Lucy? _You _obviously can't go, you're the challenger. And we can't send Caspian into danger."

That startled Caspian from ruminating on the strange fear in Peter's face. "What? Why not?"

Edmund gave him a wry look. "The whole point of the single combat and the probable subsequent battle, the reason Aslan most likely brought us here, is to put _you_ on the throne of Narnia. You can't exactly do that if you're dead."

Caspian stared, hearing what Edmund was not saying and seeing it in the guilty look of the High King. No matter how Peter had taken over the leadership of the army, no matter that the High King had not thought about Aslan's will, this entire time King Edmund had been fighting for _him_, to put _Caspian_ on the throne, not take it himself. He was so taken aback by this that Caspian almost missed Edmund asking Glenstorm and the Giant Wimbleweather to accompany him, in order to intimidate the Telmarines.

As the planning continued, Caspian meant to puzzle over the conundrum of King Edmund's words, but he was distracted by the demeanor of the king's siblings. Peter's face had regained very little of its color, and his eyes seemed to darken every time someone mentioned the embassy to the Telmarines. Caspian might have thought that the High King was only channeling his anger over the Telmarine invasion of Narnia, anger at Telmarines in general. But he remembered the High King's fear, caught sight of the faces of the Queens, and realized that there was something more going on, something the Four Sovereigns were hiding from the rest of the council. Susan's eyes were filled with worry, glancing between her two brothers as if she wanted to bundle both of them up and never let them leave her sight. Lucy, the Valiant queen, was biting her lower lip and…Caspian realized that the young girl was gripping the pommel of her knife until her knuckles turned white.

Yes, there was definitely something more going on. Caspian just had not idea what it could possibly be.

* * *

Short first chapter. Actually, I only broke it up into chapter because the story is just long enough to be too much for a one-shot.


	2. Chapter 2

In which Caspian learns the truth. Again, I warn for dark themes as this is the chapter they show up in.

* * *

If Caspian thought that the Four Sovereigns were acting strangely in council, seeing them bid farewell to King Edmund confirmed his suspicions. Peter had flitted around his brother the entire time the younger king was putting on his armor and tunic, face still white and worried. The two had talked in low whispers that Caspian could not make out, but he could still hear the anxiety in Peter's voice and the comfort in Edmund's. Not that the younger king seemed to make any headway in actually calming his brother. At one point, when Edmund was putting on the final touches of his soldier's attire, Peter had even stubbornly refused to give Edmund the younger boy's signet ring, which led into a confusing argument:

"Peter, give me my ring."

"No."

A sigh. "Pete, it's my signet ring."

"No."

"It's a symbol of my authority as King of Narnia. I kind of need to have it with me."

Peter set his jaw stubbornly. "Take mine."

"I'm not the High King!"

This had continued for a while until Peter had reluctantly handed over the ring which Edmund placed on his left little finger. And then Peter had promptly removed it and placed the ring on Edmund's right hand with a pale-faced glare. By the time Edmund was about to leave, Caspian was surprised the older king had not called the entire thing off and insisted on delivering the challenge himself. Instead, Peter had just pulled his brother into a fierce hug, though for a moment Caspian did not think he was going to let go.

He did, however, and then it was the Queens' turn to say goodbye. Susan embraced her brother tightly while telling him to take care of himself, stroking his hair in a motherly gesture that reminded Caspian of his beloved Nurse. Lucy had nearly thrown herself at Edmund, causing him to fall back towards Caspian. That was how the Telmarine heard their whispers: "Come back safely, Edmund."

"I always do."

Caspian thought he heard Lucy bite back a sob. "Not always. And if anything happens, I won't hold Peter back. Only you ever could."

Caspian did not hear more as Glenstorm moved by him, telling the four that they were only waiting for King Edmund to leave. So he stood with the High King and the two Queens, and watched the three Narnians leave Aslan's How towards the uncertainly of the Telmarine camp. King Edmund stood straight and tall, his bearing that of a king, even without his silver crown that was now lost to the ages. The rhyme, _lost silver stand strong, silver of the right and wrong, _came to Caspian's mind, another chant that he ignored as he watched the remaining three sovereigns. As soon as his brother was out of sight, Peter whirled around and stormed away from the group. Susan placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder. "I'll take the first shift. He'll need you more later," she said before turning to hurry after her brother. Lucy spared one last glance to the door where Edmund had left, before practically running down the tunnels. It was not hard for Caspian to guess that she was heading for the room of the Stone Table; the youngest queen seemed to find comfort in that room that made many feel uneasy in their awe.

.

Though he knew that she likely wanted to be left alone, Caspian was never one to let a puzzle remain unsolved. And this puzzle was niggling at the back of his mind, like a song that lay on his tongue, just waiting for the right words to start. So the young man followed the tunnels, eyes ever running over the paintings that covered the walls. To his surprise, Lucy was not at the Stone Table or at the carving of Aslan. For a moment Caspian panicked, thinking perhaps she had run away to find Aslan on her own, or even to follow her brother to the Telmarine camp.

Then a flash of red caught his eye and he turned to see Lucy standing in the far, back corner of the room. Apparently she had not heard him come in, her gaze fixed on a particular painting, one of those that had been damaged some time in the lost history of Narnia. Caspian watched as her small hand traced the figures and frowned. This one painting had always intrigued and troubled him. It showed a warrior, King Peter by the style depicting him, standing with a bloodied sword over a pile of human corpses; next to him a castle burned fiercely. The figure of Peter stood as if ready to cleave the fallen soldiers even in death. The rest of the scene had fallen away, but the gruesome picture of the High King always caused Caspian to shudder and wonder just how Peter had gained the title Magnificent.

He shuddered now and Lucy must have heard him, because she whipped around to face him, hand to her knife. Seeing who it was, she relaxed, but Caspian could not help but notice the dark look in her eyes, cast by the shadows of the torches. "Did you need me for something, Caspian?" she asked politely.

"No, my lady…"

"Just Lucy, please."

Caspian smiled slightly. "Lucy. No, I…" he almost confessed hearing her strange farewell, but lost his nerve and changed what he was going to say. "I was wondering if you were alright, so I followed you. I did not expect you to be by this painting, it does not seem very…comforting to me."

Lucy's smile was pained. "I'm surprised to see this recorded. Even in our time, most of the Narnians usually pretended it never happened."

"What _did_ happen? Doctor Cornelius never told me a story like this. The High King looks so…"

"Furious? Possessed? Bloodthirsty?" Lucy raised a finger to trace the figure of her brother. "Oh, he was." She turned to Caspian, eyes narrowed in memory. "Are you sure you want to hear? It's not pleasant, but maybe it would make some things clearer."

Caspian swallowed, but nodded firmly. "Like why you and your sister are taking shifts watching your brother?"

The finger traced downward to the mountain of slaughtered men. "Yes. We watch to make sure he doesn't do anything…rash. At least, Susan does."

Lucy took a deep breath and began her tale. "It was nine years into our reign. Rumor had reached Cair Paravel that a small band of humans along our border were raiding our lands, killing Narnians. Of course, Peter and Edmund set out immediately to investigate with a small war party." Lucy grimaced. "The numbers of the raiders had been underestimated; Peter and Edmund were ambushed, and Peter badly injured. Edmund knew they could not repulse the force with so few numbers, so he organized a rear guard that allowed the majority of the war party to escape back to the Cair. Peter barely made it, and I had to use my cordial to heal him."

Caspian saw her hand drift to the diamond bottle on her waist, now nearly half empty. How many times had this young girl had to use the magic of the fireflower to heal her brothers from life-threatening wounds? Caspian nearly laughed. She had not even been a child at the time, she would have been around his own age, maybe older.

The Valiant Queen continued. "As soon as he was healed, Peter gathered the full force of the Narnian army and headed back to the site of the ambush. He wanted answers, he wanted revenge. But mostly, he wanted to find our brother, because none of the rearguard had returned. And we found them."

"We?"

Lucy smiled tightly. "Did you think I wouldn't go with him? I fought next to my brothers many times. Susan was the one who usually stayed at Cair Paravel, as she did this time too."

Caspian frowned. "But you did not accompany us on the raid of Miraz's castle."

"That's a different story, so I'll just say that I never went to battle if I didn't think Aslan would approve. Not that that usually happened back then. A lot has changed."

A knot of guilt formed in Caspian's gut. So the Valiant Queen had stayed behind in protest, knowing Aslan did not bless the raid, and the Gentle Queen, who never went to war, fought fiercely in that bloody carnage. One more thing that he and his people were responsible for.

Lucy did not let him dwell long, though. "The entire guard had been killed protecting the retreat. Brutally slaughtered, their bodies mutilated even after death. Only Edmund was missing, and we had to assume he had been captured by the raiders. We left behind a contingent to bury the dead and then we followed the raiders' trail. It went far past the borders of Narnia, and we had so little intelligence of what lay beyond. The trail was hard to follow. We would have lost it several times, only…" Her voice broke at this. "Only, the raiders had learned of us following them and decided to mock us by leaving…evidence of their path."

The way Lucy said 'evidence' sent a shiver up Caspian's spine as the queen seemed to look beyond him to the very past she was reliving in memory. "What…what sort of evidence?"

The fist on her dagger tightened. "They were a terrible, cruel people. The rumors that we had first heard, that they enjoyed torture for torture's sake, that they enjoyed seeing people in pain, weren't rumors at all." Lucy looked into his eyes and Caspian was shocked by the dark pain in her too-old gaze. "They left scraps of Ed's torn clothing, locks of his hair that they had torn from his head. They left trails of blood. _Edmund's _blood_._ It was…everywhere, just so much of it. On the second week of the search we even found his signet ring."

Caspian frowned. "Surely that is not as bad as the…blood."

Lucy's eyes closed tightly and she had to take a deep, gasping breath. "It was still attached to his finger."

Caspian's mouth gaped open, eyes widening even further as his mind processed her words. Two weeks. King Edmund had been a captive for at least two weeks, tortured for two weeks while Peter and Lucy had frantically chased after him, following a path of blood. Suddenly Peter's fear of letting his brother wear the signet ring made such terrible sense. And also led to another question. "But…King Edmund has all of his fingers."

"Now he does. When we went back to our own world we returned to the bodies we had before Narnia, which meant we lost all the scars we gained here."

Caspian nodded, wondering if indeed all their scars were healed because he was quickly learning that not all wounds were physical. "Obviously you did find him, alive."

Lucy nodded solemnly. "Alive, but barely. The third week we found the fortress where the raiders were holed up." Caspian followed her gaze to the burning castle painted on the wall of the How. "By then, Peter was on the brink of what we call his 'wildness'. You've seen him angry. You haven't seen him _wild_. Not many have, and most of them are dead."

Caspian did not think she was referring to Narnian friends from their reign.

"He goes cold, and it's a terrible cold that drags him down into an empty darkness; his eyes turn almost black, and once he is unleashed he _will not stop. _Not much triggers Peter's wildness, but these raiders made the stupid mistake of hurting his brother; not even a fortress would hold him back. After a two day siege, we broke down the door and Peter…was unleashed." Two pairs of eyes drifted to the figure of the High King standing over the many corpses. Lucy continued, eyes never leaving the painting. "Nothing could stop him, no one."

"Not even you?"

Lucy paused, lips pursed tightly together, before answering. "I don't know. I might have been able to stop him. If I had wanted to."

Another chill ran up Caspian's spine as he looked at the little girl standing next to him. Little girl? No, her eyes were not those of a girl's, they were those of a warrior and a queen. Caspian wondered, idly, if Peter was the only one to give in to wildness that day. By her words, by the guilt in her eyes, he rather thought not.

"We found Edmund in one of the rooms of the fortress. They hadn't felt the need to lock him in a cell or tie him up, since he…he wasn't in any condition to move. He was half dead." Lucy shook her head as if trying to rid her mind of the image. "No, he was more than half dead. And yet somehow he was still conscious. Conscious enough, at least, to order Peter not to kill the young page who was cowering near him."

That confused Caspian. "He ordered the High King to stop? And the High King listened to him?"

Lucy smiled, and for the first time it looked fond instead of sad. "Edmund is the only one who has ever been able to calm Peter from the wildness. Even then, barely able to speak and in such horrible pain, he was able to bring Peter out of it for a moment and save the life of the one person who had showed him any kindness in his captivity. Of course, then Ed passed out completely, and I was barely able to get the cordial to him in time. He was so very badly off that he remained unconscious for the next four days, even as we journeyed back to Narnia. And it took him even longer to fully heal from his experience."

The story ended, Lucy seemed to deflate and Caspian put a hand on her shoulder to steady her as she swayed. She leaned towards him and he ended up awkwardly embracing her, letting her rest against his side. "That page was the only one left alive, wasn't he?"

"Yes," was the simple answer. "Left alive to tell the rest of his people what happens to those who harm a king of Narnia. It still haunts Peter."

"What, killing the raiders?"

He felt her shake her head against his chest. "No. Letting the page live." She gave him a moment to process that shock before continuing. "Edmund insists it was the right thing to do, and I agree. The page had slipped extra food and water to him, even smuggled in herbs for the pain despite risking punishment or even death if he were found out. Peter, though…Peter does not forgive easily. Though the boy hadn't even been one of those who captured Edmund, to Peter the entire people were responsible. And the consequences of letting the boy go free angers him even more."

Caspian felt a sense of dread rise in his chest. "Consequences?"

Lucy pulled away from him and again looked at the picture on the wall. "I take it you never noticed the banner."

Caspian looked to where she pointed. Flying above the burning fortress was the standard of the raiders. His stomach turned over as he focused on the standard's device. A golden compass on a field of sable. It was a device he knew well. It was his own, that of his family. The standard of the Telmarines.

Lucy's small hand gripped his wrist, but he didn't turn to her. "There's more."

"What more could there be?" Caspian demanded, his voice a breaking moan. What could be worse than knowing this, knowing the depths of his people's depravity?"

"The page's name…it was Caspa."

.

With a strangled gasp, Caspian reeled backwards. Caspa. To anyone else it would just be a similar-sounding name. Only someone who knew how Telmarines named their children would know the truth. Caspian, the name of nine proud kings, the name of a conqueror, the name allowed only in the direct royal line, _his name,_ simply meant "son of Caspa". That boy, that one young page, had been the founder of the Telmarine royal line. The line that invaded Narnia, devastated her people, destroyed the land.

His mind whirled. If Peter had killed Caspa that day, none of it would have happened. No invasion, no terror, no hunting down of innocent Narnians, no Miraz, no disastrous raid, no desperate duel. No Caspian. At the moment, Caspian thought that his own non-existence would have been worth that small twist of a sword.

"No." He had not realized he had spoken the last bit aloud until Lucy's firm contradiction imposed on his fog of confused self-hatred. "Aslan always says that we cannot know what might have been. There could have been another Telmarine who would conquer Narnia, but he might not have had a descendent like _you_ to bring back hope for the old days."

"King Peter obviously thinks it would have been better that Caspa's line never existed."

Lucy was already shaking her head. "I just told you, Peter doesn't forgive easily. There's a very good reason he is not called The Just. He has a hard time separating the individual from the actions of the group and he blames every Telmarine for what happened to Edmund."

Caspian hung his head. "Including me." Suddenly, every harsh word, every hard glare that Peter had given him since their first meeting made such sense. He had thought Peter was being haughty when he had never even given Caspian a chance to prove his worth, but now Caspian could recognize the underlying anger and distrust that stemmed from the terrible things done to the High King's family. "I do not blame him at all for his anger."

"Edmund does." Caspian's head shot up, face showing his confusion. Lucy smiled softly at him. "Has Edmund ever treated you like you didn't deserve to be here with us, with the Narnians?"

"No." Indeed, King Edmund had never treated him in the way his brother had, he had even supported Caspian's right to the throne of Narnia. "I do not understand why, though. He of anyone has the right to hate the Telmarines."

Lucy's hold on his wrist tightened. "Edmund remembers everything about what happened. _Everything_. Not just the torture and the pain, but the kindness that Caspa showed him. He remembers his own failings in life, and came to the conclusion that just as he was responsible for his individual actions, so was everyone else. The criminal was punished, not the criminal's family. Caspa was responsible for his own actions and showed himself to have a caring heart. He was _not_ responsible for the crimes of his children. Just as you're not responsible for the crimes of your ancestors, Caspian. Edmund knows this, and he's been constantly beating Peter over the head with it." Her smile widened ruefully. "It's just taken awhile for it to sink in. And even Peter trusts you now. You aren't a Telmarine any longer to him. You're a Narnian, chosen by Aslan to rule his land."

Caspian looked back at the painting of the burning fortress. The standard of the golden compass fluttered in stone, but he felt nothing for it. He did not fight beneath the standard of Telmar anymore. He fought for the banner of the Great Lion. The banner of the High King. The banner of Narnia.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Concluding chapter.

* * *

The King of a New Age and the Queen of the Old one stood in silence for some time, each musing over the history just told in that sacred room. Their thoughts were interrupted by a messenger fox that slinked towards them. "My queen, your royal sister bids me tell you that it is time to 'take your shift' out on the overlook."

"Thank you, tell her I will be right there." The fox disappeared down the tunnel and Lucy turned to Caspian. "It's my turn. Will you be alright?"

Caspian gave her a tentative smile. "I should be asking you. I was not reliving that horrible memory."

Lucy squeezed his hand, a silent thank you. "I'll be better once Edmund returns. We all will be."

She turned to leave, but Caspian stopped her with a soft, "Lucy?"

Looking back at him, she raised an eyebrow in question. "Yes?"

He hesitated only slightly. "Thank you. For telling me."

Lucy gave him a small smile. "Thank _you_ for listening. And understanding." With that, she left Caspian alone.

.

Not sure what to do, Caspian wandered slowly down the tunnels, again looking at the paintings that graced the walls, but this time seeing more than just pictures. He saw the lives, the heartaches and joys, of two queens and two kings.

_Two Kings, Two Crowns  
Silver and Gold crowns_

The phrase from before whispered across his mind, words straining from his memory. Why was he remembering this now?

_Gold comes, terror Gold  
Riding forth, fierce and bold_

Caspian gasped as the whole memory came flooding back. Himself, a small child, watching the servant children playing rope-jump in the courtyard, chanting rhymes that he knew, he _knew_, even as a little boy, hearkened back to the forbidden stories his tutor told him. As in the other rope-jump songs, the children would recite a rhyme then count the number of jumps they completed after the rhyme ended. _How many does the Gold one burn? _He had never understood that song, never knew what the children were counting. But the Professor, willing as he was to tell the stories behind so many of the rhymes, refused to do so with this one. It was a tale, Caspian was told, not meant for young ears. The refusal had frustrated Caspian, and when all the other play-rhymes disappeared into the abyss of lost memory, this one remained. Not just in whispers now, but the entire rhyme beating in time with his heart. He remembered the rhyme.

And now it made sense.

Caspian stopped short, when he realized that in his daze he had walked to the opening that led to the ledge which surveyed the field in front of the How. From the shadows of the doorway, Caspian saw High King Peter standing at the edge of the overlook, staring out towards the woods where the Telmarines were encamped, hand never leaving the hilt of his sword Rhindon. Lucy stood beside him, her fingers resting lightly on his arm. Seeing them like that, seeing the hard stance of the boy king who now looked nothing like a boy at all, Caspian knew that Lucy's hand was not one of restraint, but one of comfort. A gesture saying that, whatever the High King did, she would support him. Because nothing, not even his little sister, would restrain Peter should his brother come to harm. Just as Lucy had told him.

Just as the little rhyme chanted by Telmarine children warned their fathers:

_Two kings, two crowns__  
Silver and Gold crowns  
__Lost Silver stand strong  
Silver of the right and wrong  
Gold comes, terror Gold  
Riding forth, fierce and bold  
Silver tarnish, Silver dire  
Burning west a Golden fire  
How many does the Gold one burn?  
One, two, three, four…_

'Listen to the children, Uncle,' thought Caspian, darkly. 'and do not lay a finger on the Silver Crown, for they know the consequences of harming the brother of the High King. And if you ignore their warning, I will be able to do nothing but stand with the Valiant Queen and watch the Golden Fire burn through Narnia…and count with them.'

_How many does the Gold one burn?  
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…_

* * *

Don't worry, we all know that Edmund made it back safely and Peter doesn't go mad and the Telmarines almost all live happily ever after with the Narnians. But I think Caspian gained a new respect for, and fear of, Peter.


End file.
